Saturday, December 17, 2011

Every once in a while an interesting highwaymen painting changes hands.

This happens to be one of them.

I won't comment on my perception of its value, but I will state that it was listed as sold, at an offer undoubtedly less than its asking price of $6500.00.

In my opinion, it was worth more than that, possibly five figures, a few short years ago.

Which of course, reminds me to remind YOU that a reasonably good buying opportunity exists in this little marketplace right now.

This particular piece is by Roy McLendon, who recently examined it and again signed and dated it on the verso as painted in 1965.

Like he remembers if it was 63, 64, or 65, but anyway.........It's a standard size 24x36, upson board attached to its original crown molding frame. The ultimate highwayman classic presentation.

It's one of those "rare people pictures" that many of the artists, including Roy are currently reproducing on a regular basis. These new so-called rarities will be addressed in a different posting, as my purpose today is to present a vintage classic Washdaypainting.

These paintings not only portray the various types of Florida's foliage, but also record history and capture it like a photograph.

Wash day paintings with people are an interesting sub-market of vintage people pictures in general, and as such, they are a little bit more in demand than boathouses or beaches with people. The highest values in this group are enjoyed by Harold Newton and Alfred Hair. As prolific as they were, Old Roy outperformed them both in vintage people pictures.

So, given an equal demand factor for these things, the supply by Roy is much larger, therefore the value lower. That's just how it works.

I've had the pleasure of buying and selling probably a dozen vintage people pictures by Roy including a few wash day paintings. I've seen and examined maybe 50 others.

Roy painted all the different trees to go with the shack, the road, the cottage and the people. Perhaps the most popular, or in demand, wash day paintings include the Royal Poinciana, as that overlaps yet another highwayman art sub market.

Roy would sometimes add one of his classic pine trees or the standard cabbage palms to the left of the road. This one is unique to me with a young mossy oak to the left. Almost all of them have an old mossy oak on the right framing the images with what Fitch called "the reverse 'C'".

About Me

Facebook links:
https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/H-Newton-and-A-Hair-Paintings/309497962412013
https://www.facebook.com/#!/TheOther24HighwaymenArtists
https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/A-E-Backus-paintings/226383987441293
Since 1973, Bob LeBlanc has operated as a professional dealer in items of exceptional beauty and value. With the introduction of Highwaymen Art to the public by Jim Fitch in a 1995 issue of Antiques and Art Around Florida, Bob recognized a new and potentially active regional market. Since then, Bob has invested time, effort, and money to promote highwaymen art, exhibiting at antique shows statewide, and creating a web presence.
Since 1996, Bob has handled many of the most important highwaymen paintings available on the market, the H Newton pine tree on the cover of Antiques and Art Around Florida, in 1997, the H Newton river sunset on the cover of the Hambrick video documentary, and the first highwaymen painting to reach the $10,000.00 level.